. Throughout
the winter unending drill was kept up; and when, in June, 1794, fourteen
hundred mounted militia arrived from Kentucky, Wayne found himself at
the head of the largest and best-trained force that had ever been turned
against the Indians west of the Alleghanies. Even before the arrival
of the Kentuckians, it proved its worth by defending its forest
headquarters, with practically no loss, against an attack by fifteen
hundred redskins.

On the 27th of July the army moved forward in the direction of the
Maumee, with closed ranks and so guarded by scouts that no chance
whatever was given for surprise attacks. Washington's admonitions had
been taken to heart, and the Indians could only wonder and admire.
News of the army's advance traveled ahead and struck terror through the
northern villages, so that many of the inhabitants fled precipitately.
When the troops reached the cultivated lands about the junction of the
Maumee and Auglaize rivers, they found only deserted huts and great
fields of corn, from which they joyfully replenished their diminished
stores. Here a fort was built and given the significant name Defiance;
and from it a final offer of peace was sent out to the hostile tribes.
Never doubting that the British would furnish all necessary aid, the
chieftains returned evasive answers. Wayne thereupon moved his troops to
the left bank of the Maumee and proceeded cautiously downstream toward
the British stronghold at Fort Miami.

A few days brought the army to a place known as Fallen Timbers, where
a tornado had piled the trunks and branches of mighty trees in
indescribable confusion. The British post was but five or six miles
distant; and there behind the breastworks which nature had provided, and
in easy reach of their allies, the Indians chose to make their stand. On
the morning of the 20th of August, Wayne, now so crippled by gout that
he had to be lifted into his saddle, gallantly led an assault. The
Indian fire was murderous, and a battalion of mounted Kentuckians was
at first hurled back. But the front line of infantry rushed up and
dislodged the savages from their covert, while the regular cavalry on
the right charged the enemy's left flank. Before the second line of
infantry could get into action the day was won. The whole engagement
lasted less than three-quarters of an hour, and not a third of Wayne's
three thousand men actually took part in it.

The fleeing redskins were pursued to the walls o